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Snapchat will let brands advertise on your face

Snapchat will soon launch a new advertising format that will let brands advertise on people's selfies. The feature, called "Sponsored lenses", is Snapchat's latest attempt to make money from its youthful audience.

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Snapchat first launched its new lenses feature in September, allowing users to superimpose animations onto their faces ranging from massive heart eyes, wrinkles and vomit rainbows. Now Snapchat has signed up a number of interested parties who will be replacing vomit rainbows and old peoples' faces with sponsored animations.

According to The Finanicial Times, the first of these lenses are due to arrive on the platform in time for Halloween, but there's been no indication of which brands are on board. "Sponsored lenses allow Snapchatters to express themselves and connect with a brand in a really creative and dynamic way," a spokeswoman from Snapchat told the FT.

Another source has allegedly revealed that Snapchat is charging up to $750,000 (£495,000) for brands to reach its whole userbase over the course of a big holiday, or $450,000 (£297,000) on any normal day.

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The addition of sponsored content being added over the top of selfies and personal snaps could leave some feeling a little uncomfortable. Snapchat will apparently be designing the new sponsored animations itself and the FT claims Hollywood studios are likely to be the first to sign up.

And this isn't Snapchat's first move into in-app advertising. Earlier this year it teamed up with communications super group WPP and the Daily Mail to work on a content marketing collaboration called Truffle Pig. It has also been trialling advertisements in the Discover news service from the likes of CNN and Cosmopolitan since January 2015.